Tag Archives: black beans

Lately my sister has gotten in on the hot action of our kitchen. I don’t know when her desire to cook began but I’m thinking it has something to do with the fact that no one else was cooking for her anymore, and that making your own food is both healthier and cheaper. She’s big on both. But she’s also a pickier eater than I am. While I will try anything (except, possibly insects or things that are still alive on my plate) she draws the line at most things I try to force on her. And when she does eat them sometimes she loves them. Sometimes she mocks me. But she’s also got a shellfish allergies and a lactose intolerance. I know, two of the best things, right?

Anyway, combining her like of cheap, healthy food, my love of the gourmet and unique, and her dislike of, or inability to eat certain things has made for an interesting mash up. She has surprised me recently when we do get in the kitchen.

Once a die-hard bean hater (I think it comes from several years spent in a Tex-Mex restaurant) she has evolved enough that they are now a staple in her lunches. In fact, her lunches are often more interesting than mine, which when I’m lazy or have no leftovers, involve sandwiches like they have for the past 20 years of my life.

Today I finally have my taste for food again. It went into a semester long hibernation, waking only for Thanksgiving. And now that my papers are turned in, my exams over, it’s like I woke up hungry. I’ve been using that hunger to find recipes to spice up our recent consumption of rice and beans. Two of the cheapest foods out there, and some of the simplest to prepare; I confess I know little about them. But in order to keep my sister in the kitchen with me, and keep my stomach full on a grad student’s income I’ve been doing my food homework.

Ideas for R&B (the culinary kind) based on what is cheap/in the pantry

I have little to write here it seems. Food, such a simple and vital component to our days, has gotten overlooked for awhile. Instead I am concentrating on school and work and so many other things that cooking a meal seems almost like a luxury that I can’t afford right now. Being poor also adds to the problem. But without contemplating food I feel as though a creative part of me is slipping away. Contemplating all these theoretical criticisms and discussions in my grad classes is exciting and fun for me but it leaves little room for more substantial thoughts on food. Reading the New York Times food pages, a place I usually find inspiration, is like looking into shop windows and getting depressed because I can’t try it. My work schedule and classes means I have about three days that I can consider making food. And because of work I come home hungry but uninterested in the process. Later in the evening, after having something relatively snack like I can consider the prospect. However, my younger sister is assuming my role. She’s thinking about food and what to make in her freetime from work. I’m becoming inspired by her. It’s like I’m an old woman who needs the energy of the new to try out her ideas again and find they still work, I can still think about food after some practice. It’s funny, I never thought cooking required practice, much like an instrument or painting. But it does, I get rusty without thinking about it. Once I’m in the kitchen for a bit my mind is more flexible and I can reach for the spices more easily.

However, having said that here are a few ideas I have for soup. It’s getting close to that time of year, and soup freezes well. I’m thinking this might be in my freezer for a day when I can’t think of what to make.

-Pureed roasted cauliflower with navy beans and rotisserie chicken

-black bean soup

-diced tomatoes and corn, roasted and in soup

-minestrone of any leftover vegetables currently in the fridge.

update: after doing a little more reading in NY Times I’m feeling more rejuvenated. And I remembered that I have green beans to roast for tonight –amazing! And a sweet potato. And coconut milk to use in soups. I’m back.

Past Posts This Month

Past Posts This Month

Who We Are

So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season'd showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found;
Now proud as an enjoyer and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure,
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better'd that the world may see my pleasure;
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight,
Save what is had or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.